Directions: Read the poem and then answer the questions that follow.
The Old Year
It passed like the breath of the night-wind away,
It fled like a mist at the dawn of the day;
It lasted its moment, then backward was hurled,
Another increase to the age of the world.
It passed with its shadows, its smiles and its tears,
It passed as a stream to the ocean of years;
Year that were coming--were here--and are o’er,
The ages departed to visit no more.
It passed, but the bark on its billowy track
Leaves an impression on waters aback:
The glow of the gloaming remains on the sky,
Unwilling to leave us--unwilling to die.
It fled; but away and away in its wake
There lingers a something that time cannot break.
The past and the future are joined by a chain,
And memories live that must ever remain.
- by Henry Kendall
1. Write down one simile from the poem above.
2. What comparison is the simile making?
3. What does the simile mean?
4. What is one example of personification from the poem?
5. What is being personified and what image does the personification help you to see, hear,
smell, taste, or feel